


Fairest Angels

by Daerwyn



Series: Fairest Trilogy [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Cliffhangers, Dark!Harry, F/M, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Post-War, Romance, dark!Ginny, horcrux
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-15
Updated: 2013-03-15
Packaged: 2017-12-05 08:32:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/721011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daerwyn/pseuds/Daerwyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first installment to the Fairest Trilogy.</p><p>Ginny wasn't good with goodbyes, or with knowing exactly what was good for her in the first place. She just knew that no matter what, Harry would always be someone she admired. Until, Harry changed. Until he became someone that was not like the Saviour she had known and loved in school. Until he became someone that could put the fear of Merlin in her with just a look. Until he became just like the boy that would whisper in her ear in first year, and tell her how to speak that wretched language and how to smear blood all over the walls of the castle. </p><p>She was losing him, and losing control of herself. When no one believes her, she takes matters into her own hands, and knows she'll regret it once she's sound.</p><p>Currently being edited and revamped. Not like the Fairest you may have read before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ink Stains

 

She kept a diary that she wrote in every day. Every time her hands touched the dark leather of the cover, she would be jolted to the memories that she kept buried. She would hold the memories just long enough to remind herself to transfigure the cover into a bright pastel color. It was always when she started a new journal that she had the worst flashbacks. But after the color changed, after she could see pages upon pages full of her writing, she would relax. It was not the same diary that had tormented her the worst nights. 

 

But even after years of that night gone from her memory, of him feeding off of her soul to bring him back to life - of her laying on the cool, damp floor of a chamber that most of the castle hadn’t even remembered existed - of her nearly dying alone in a place she would never have been found, she was able to forget most of it. It wasn’t until her sixth year, the Death Eaters patrolling the halls and the threat of him finding her again, that she began to have the nightmares once more. She would fall asleep at night, an alert charm on the hammock hanging from the roof of the room of requirement, her hands clutching her diary tight to her chest. There were more like it in her bag, from the years previous. 

 

There were more like it at home at the Burrow, and stuffed under the floorboards in Grimmauld Place. She averaged a diary every few months. At the least, four a year. At the most, six, sometimes seven. She wrote down everything - every moment of her day so that she would be able to retrace her steps - find any gaps. Know if she had done wrong. It ranged from conversations, as accurate as possible for credibility sake, to drawings of the exact hallways she took from one location to another. 

 

It included letters to Harry, gone from the face of the earth and no one having a clue to where he had gone. It included a list of names of those she had tortured because the Death Eaters had imperio’d her to do so. It included a list of names of those that would be the first she hexed, when she had the chance - when she had the ability to do so. 

 

Lists of homework, made and crossed off as she completed the assignments. Lists of friends that had been lost in the halls, and had never returned. List of people that were announced on the radio. She made sure their names weren't forgotten. She made sure no one ever forgot anything. 

 

She knew what it was like to have holes put into her and to have her brain made into someone else. So she made sure no one else had that done to them. 

 

“Ginny?” She looked towards Neville, the ash from fires and the dust from falling towers and the blood of the battle coating his skin. He was giving her a look, a worried one that she was used to seeing. Whenever she came back from a torture session, she felt much the same as she did now. Numb, her hands shaking and her breathing shallow. And her fingers itching to write down what happened. 

 

“Hi, Neville.”

 

He gave her an easy smile. “We made it.”

 

They did. They made it to the point of the end of the war. They made it. Not entirely in one piece, but they made it. Ginny gave him a return smile, her eyes darting to the fallen stone of the castle. And she took a deep breath, her lungs filling with the death in the air.

 

And she spotted Harry, sitting in the Great Hall, his hand running through his hair. And his shoulders shaking. Blood was smeared across his neck, as if he had ran his hand along it. And she took heavy steps towards him. The agony she had felt, seeing him limp in Hagrid’s arms, was like sharp shards of glass digging into her chest. It was like the Carrows being relentless in their conditioning to get the upper classes to torture. It was the constant nightmares whispering into her ears and insisting that she had enjoyed what she had done. It was the memories. It was admitting that maybe the world would never change, and the fear that had consumed her when Harry had been presumed dead, was absolutely paralyzing.

 

But she sat beside him on the cot, and he glanced towards her. He was dirty much the same way Neville was, with dust clinging to his skin, and scratches across his arms and neck. 

 

She gave him what she hoped was a smile, but she couldn’t much feel her face. “Hey.”

 

He glanced away, but she could not deny the pull that she felt, even after the months they had spent away from each other. She could not deny that he was everything she ever wanted. She could not deny that she had put herself through torture just so that she could sit here a this very moment and see him. She could never deny it. Because they were made for eachother. She knew he could feel it, much like she did. She knew he felt the way their presence was intoxicating to one another. He drank her just like she drank him. And though he was looking away, she saw a slight smile touch his lips. 

 

“Hey.”

 

“What now?”

 

“Dunno… I guess relearn the Wizarding World. Now that there's no maniac trying to murder me… I imagine it’s going to be a lot different from when we were kids.” They weren’t kids anymore. Ginny didn’t know where the time had flown. She just knew that every second was written down for her. Every second was ready to be reviewed if she ever needed it. 

 

“Yeah,” she agreed quietly. She followed his gaze to Ron and Hermione, clutching each other’s hands as they walked slowly through the Great Hall, greeting others amongst them that had survived. Not many, compareed to those that had gone in. “It’s nice.” 

 

But she could got get the image of the man that her Tom Riddle had become. A serpent-like being with hardly any defining features at all, save for the features he lacked. And the red eyes. The red piercing eyes that she would never forget. 

 

She hadn’t seen him since that night, nearly six years ago. Nearly six years to the day. 

 

It wasn’t nice at all. It would never be nice again. Because no one that had fought and survived today would ever forget. Some scars couldn’t be forgotten, no matter how invisible they became.

 


	2. Chapter 2

The marble manor was as familiar to Bella as the secret passages of Hogwarts. Her eyes roamed the room, spotting the memory beginning to unfold. Oh, yes, she remembered this.

**

She had only been five, but she was sprinting down the hall of the Manor. Her blonde hair was blowing behind her. "Draco!" she called. "Brother, dear!" She couldn't seem to find him anywhere. He wasn't in the garden with Pansy, which meant he could only be in one other place.

The library doors slammed open as the elves hurriedly opened it for her. "Thank you," she giggled, patting each one on the head as she halted. She was forbidden from running in the library. Her mother had told her she could hit a bookshelf and it could collapse on her, crushing her in seconds. Bella had been too terrified to tempt breaking her promise.

"Draco!" Bella called once more. Her cream dress had just been fitted by her mother and the silk was already going to wrinkle if she didn't return quickly. She had just narrowly escaped.

"Over here, Bella," a haughty voice answered her. She glanced in the direction to see the blonde boy sitting in their mother's chair by the fire. Bella rushed to his side, glancing at the book.

"I didn't even know you could read! Mother says only I know how to read. She says you don't get it yet-"

"She's lying," Draco snapped, shutting the book quickly. "What do you want, Bella?"

"Mother and Father are having a ball!" Bella giggled, her smile as wide as the book on her brother's lap was thick. "Aren't you simply excited! I've always dreamed about being allowed to attend! The dancing and the spinning! And the princes bowing to the princesses-"

"These aren't fairytales mother wastes her breath telling you," Draco interrupted bitterly. Bella's smile faltered a bit. The blonde boy, the same age as her, stood, carry the large book to the shelf and letting the magic reshelf it. "Do you still believe those? Only babies believe that stuff."

"But, Draco, it's real!" Bella insisted, her eyes wide and fearful, as though the stories her mother told her were false. "They really do dance and spin! And the music plays and echoes in the ballroom-"

"It's nothing like that," Draco snapped. "It's boring and its for grown-ups. When father makes me attend, all the old women gush at me and pinch my cheeks like I'm some toy. Grandfather would never have stood for it, so I can't possibly see why father would-"

"You're wrong," Bella shot stubbornly. "It's magical. Watch! I'm going to go to it tonight, Mother said I could, I was old enough now-"

"Only because you don't cry in your sleep anymore-"

Bella's cheeks burned, but she continued as if she hadn't heard her brother's spiteful remark. "And a handsome prince is going to come up to me and ask me to dance! Just you see, Draco! I bet Pansy won't even look at you!"

Draco sneered at her, in a good imitation of her father. "Pansy is none of your business. I have to marry her, when I'm older. And who are you going to marry?"

"The handsome prince," Bella answered quickly, smiling. "But Father says if I don't find my prince, I have to marry Blaise Zabini..." She wrinkled her nose. "He doesn't like me though, and he's mean to me."

"No one likes you, Bella. You're a freak," her brother said shortly, striding past her and into the hallway. Tears brimmed in Bella's silver eyes as she stared after him.

"I am not!" she cried. "I'm telling mother!"

She pushed her brother as she flew past him, down the hall she had come. The bedroom her mother had been mending her dress in was still occupied by the dark haired woman, still resembling her Black heritage more than her new Malfoy one. Bella had always known her mother loved her family, but hated her Mudblood loving sister more than perhaps Mudblood's themselves.

"Draco's being mean to me," Bella pouted, standing before her mother as the woman sewed the seam of the bust to the skirt with a flick of her wand. "He called me a freak."

"Of course you're a freak," Narcissa Malfoy replied. "Can I tell you something, daughter?"

"What, mum?" Bella asked before she could stop herself. She winced immediately as a small tap echoed in the quiet room. Bella glanced at her wrist to see the angry red mark. "I mean, mother. I'm sorry."

"Mudbloods and blood-traitors say mum," Narcissa reminded her daughter. "You are neither."

"Of course not. I'm a Malfoy," Bella said proudly. Narcissa nodded slowly, a barely visible worry of her lip showing, before she finished her daughter's dress.

"As I was saying," Narcissa stated as she stood, moving towards the door of her daughter's bedroom. "Only the best people in the world are considered freaks, Belladona. Merlin, Morgana, Salazar... even the Dark Lord. Do not forget that. And also, do not forget your disguise for tonight."

Before the mother's very eyes, her daughter's white blonde hair turned dark black and her eyes matched her mother's emerald green ring. "Of course not, Mother. And thank you. The dress is very pretty."

The blonde woman just nodded, off to her own bedroom to prepare for the ball.

***

"I told you a prince wasn't coming!" Draco teased his sister. He shoved the now blonde girl as they walked to their rooms, his on the right, and hers across the hall. "No one wants you, Bella. Everyone knows that there are no girls born in the Malfoy family-"

"I'm a Malfoy!" Bella returned, her face hot with shame, and her eyes wet with tears. "Just because you're three minutes older than me doesn't mean anything! You can't boss me around, heir or not-"

"That's right, Belladona. I'm the heir. I'm the one that's going to get the Manor when Father dies, and I'm going to get the money. You won't get anything-"

Bella grabbed her door handle, staring at her brother with distaste. "I hate you!" Her door slammed shut behind her, but not before she saw her brother's sobering expression.

***

"Belladona Malfoy!" Lucius's voice cried throughout the house. An elf appeared in front of the blonde girl, tucked in a small nook in the far off corner of the library.

Trembling, it spoke quickly, "Your father seeks you out, Miss Malfoy."

"Bella," the blonde corrected with a smile. "In his study? I've heard him calling but I suppose he could wait a bit longer."

"Master insists," the elf wrung its hands in its tunic, its wide blue eyes staring up at his small mistress. "He says its urgent. Hrumpty is to take you to him."

The girl tucked a strand of her hair behind her nine year old ear, before shutting the book on her lap, setting it atop the large stack of books she had already read in that day. That was all she did, as she couldn't exactly go places like her brother. No one was supposed to know she existed. She was the Malfoy daughter... the pariah. Taking the small elf's hand, she allowed it to apparate her to her father.

The severe looking man behind the large mahogany desk glared at her. "We're having visitors... Why haven't you been answering my summons?"

"I've been reading, father," Bella replied quietly, cursing herself for not have responded sooner. She should have realized there would be visitors.

"Very well. Stay in the library, will you?" the man asked as he rose, his cane clutched in his hand. Bella eyed it carefully. "We mustn't let you be seen here."

"Of course, father," Bella said with a small bow. "I'll just be going-"

"Yes, quickly," Lucius said with a drawl, waving the girl away. "You will not be seen."

"Of course not."

The girl fluttered to the library as quickly as her legs would carry her, and she resumed her book, reading along the pages of Dark Magic. The fireplace flared just feet from the shelf she was at only a few moments later, putting her read books away. She peaked over the shelf and saw Mr. Crabbe. He saw her. The blonde haired girl ducked quickly and ran along the bookshelves, going as fast as she could to her far corner, and she quickly changed her appearance to a black haired girl with impossibly green eyes.

"Who's there?"

Bella whimpered in fear, withdrawing into the dark corner of books. Why was he in the library? He was to meet her father, in his office. Not...

The footsteps were getting closer and Bella drew back until she had no place else to go. Just as he was about to round the corner of the shelf, there was a throat clearing. Mr. Crabbe's footsteps stopped.

"I believe my husband's in his office," Narcissa's cool voice spoke sharply. "I wasn't aware you were arriving by library."

"Yes, well, Lucius is usually in the library when I Floo in."

"And yet he's not in here."

"Someone's in here. A little girl."

"There are ghosts all over this Manor," Narcissa answered. Bella peeked between a few books to see the rather large man standing with a puffed out chest. He was trying to look strong, but, of course, it didn't work. His dark hair was cut short and his large body was belted with a black leather belt. It looked like it was about to burst. "I'm surprised it's taken you this far to notice."

All Bella was was a ghost.

****

"It's come! It's come!" voices shouted through the manor. The regal looking woman was sipping her tea by the fireplace as she wrote a letter to owl to her quite distant cousin, the Rosiers.

The white streaks came into the sitting room, Lucius looking up from his morning paper. The green inked envelopes were quite obvious. Their origin was no secret.

"Hogwarts letters?" Narcissa asked, taking Draco's. The action wasn't lost on Bella as she glanced at her own letter. She bit her lip, stepping back. Draco was the heir, he was their first child. Perhaps she shouldn't go to Hogwarts. She wasn't supposed to-

Lucius plucked the letter from Bella's hands and her heart seized as she waited for the man to tell her she wasn't to go. She was to keep hidden, as she always was. He stared down at the girl, a calculating look in his eyes. He glanced at the letter, reading the address, before glancing once more at the girl. Bella couldn't distinguish his expression. He hardly ever looking anything other than disapproving, so his emotions were a complete loss on her.

"It's too dangerous."

Bella bit her lip as her eyes welled up with tears, but Malfoy's didn't cry. She glanced down to her father's shiny black shoes, nodding. "I'll be in the library, Father."

She rushed from the room, desperate to keep in her tears before her father could see. If he saw, he'd never allow her to go anywhere. Once he made up his mind, he never changed it.

She made a wrong turn twice, in the library, ending up in varying aisles, but made it to the hidden nook before she dissolved into quiet tears. She clutched the pillow she always sat on – the elves had provided it for her as they had sewn it themselves. It was a present for her eleventh birthday, they had said. They had said they wanted her to take something to Hogwarts to remember them by. Dobby, mostly. He was the kind elf that kept her company or talked to her if she needed a friend.

She always needed a friend.

She hadn't heard someone approach until there was a tapping on the marble floor inches from where she sat. She looked up, the pillow wet with tears, and stared into the gray eyes of her father. She hastily stood, brushing the tears, away. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Sit."

She sat back down on the floor and she was astonished when Lucius slowly followed. She knew he had gotten an injury when he was younger in his leg. It prevented him from doing much, but Bella was rather fond of his cane. He was stylish and he was regal looking. She hoped her husband would someday be as regal as him.

"Malfoys don't cry," Lucius stated simply.

Bella sniffled and wiped at her eyes once more. "I'm sorry. I really tried to keep them away. They wouldn't-"

"What is this abomination?" he interrupted, holding up the pillow the elves had constructed for her. He held it as though it were going to burn him or stain his pale white skin. Bella looked away from her father, to the marble floor beneath her.

"It was a present to me. For turning eleven."

"From whom?"

She hesitated, "Friends."

"You don't have friends."

Bella felt tears in her eyes once more. "The elves are my friends. They talk to me when I don't have someone to talk to. Draco hangs out with Pansy and Greg and Vince, but I don't know them. They don't know me. Draco and I fight all the time. So... I talk to the elves. They listen to me. Libra sometimes listens," she thought of the dark dog she had, but was currently hanging out with Draco. "But it's not the same as someone that talks back." She glanced up at him as he set the pillow down beside her. "They wanted to remember me when I was gone, but I'm not going, so I'll just stay with them and we don't have to be separated."

"When did you become friends with the elves?" He didn't sound angry or repulsed, nor curious. Bella wasn't sure where he was going with this.

"Since I was little... Maybe four or five. Whenever I started to come to the library."

There was a moment of silence between father and daughter. "You want to go to Hogwarts." It wasn't a question, but a statement.

"There's hasn't been a Malfoy girl for centuries," Bella answered anyway, carefully. "I'm not supposed to exist. Why would I want to go to a school where I'm a freak? They'd all stare at me and laugh at me and -"

"You listen to Draco too much."

Bella swallowed, staring at her lap again. "He's right though. That's what they would do."

"No daughter of mine is a freak. You're a Malfoy. You're treated like one. Do you not feel like you are?"

She didn't know if this was a trick question either. "Of course I feel like I am. You treat me as you do Draco."

"You lie as well as you cry."

She scowled to herself. "I'm not supposed to go to Hogwarts. We already know I'm different."

"You aren't different, Bella," Lucius said gently. It was an odd tone from him and one she rarely ever heard.

"What if I'm sorted into Ravenclaw?" she asked suddenly. "I'm always in the library reading. What about Hufflepuff? I'm shy and loyal, I think. And Gryffindor... I'm not very brave, so I probably won't be... But I'm not cunning enough for Slytherin. Even if I did go, I would only disappoint you and Mum-Mother." She gave a small smile to her father. "I'd rather stay here than do anything like that."

Lucius stared at his daughter, pursing his lips. His eyes narrowed and Bella feared she had angered him. She took the pillow he had set down and put it on her lap as she played with the loose threads, looking anywhere but his probing gaze. "Ravenclaw would be better than Hufflepuff or Gryffindor," he said at last. "Gryffindor... I'd almost prefer it to Hufflepuff. If you do not get into Slytherin, it is because your mother and I never taught you the proper Pureblood ways as we have Draco." He glanced at her pillow, grimacing slightly. "You are my daughter, first and foremost. If anyone picks on you or calls you names, you notify me and they will regret it for the rest of their lives."

Bella frowned. "I don't want to get people in trouble."

"And I don't want you to feel unwelcome."

"But I'm not going. You said it was too dangerous."

"So I did. But it was also too dangerous to have children during the war and look what I had." Bella glanced up at him, her eyes wide. The tears were gone and were instead replaced with the purest form of happiness she had felt in her entire life.

"I can go?" she breathed.

Lucius nodded tightly and Bella let out a squeal, hugging her father tightly. The man in her arms froze, not used to such affection from her or her brother.

"Thank you!" she kept repeating in amazement. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

As her arms hugged around the long haired man's neck, his own arms slowly wrapped around his daughter, returning the embrace. "You're welcome. Now, stop crying. For the last time, Malfoys do not cry."

"I won't ever cry again!" she promised.

The man slowly pulled the girl off of him and shakily rose, his leg troubling him. Bella didn't dare help him. That angered him more than anything. "You won't ever disappoint your mother and I."

"What if I am in Gryffindor, though?" Bella asked hesitantly. "What if … what if I'm put there on accident?" She bit her lip.

"Bella-"

"If you disown me, I have no family," she continued. "Mother's sister, Andromeda, she's a blood-traitor and she hasn't even spoken to Mum in years. And her daugher's just graduated and she's a metamorphagus like me, but she can't-"

"We won't disown you. If you marry Harry Potter on the other hand..."

Bella glanced up at the man she called her father and bit her lip. "Who's Harry Potter?"

***

"Wand?" Narcissa asked. Bella presented the wand Ollivander had told her was the proper one. It was oak, eleven and three quarters, and springy. The core was a dragons heartstring of the last Mongolian Maul-back known in existence. Narcissa inspected it before presenting it back to her daughter.

"And your books? Robes?"

"All purchased," Bella said proudly.

"Good, go to the Eyelops. I have to meet Mrs. Zabini for lunch. Do be careful-"

"Of course, mother," Bella insisted. "I'll find Draco."

"Stick with him."

"I will, mother."

Bella waltzed through the street, glancing around until she spotted the familiar speck of white blonde hair in front of a quite ginger family. And Draco didn't look like he was being pleasant. The owl in the cage in her hands was hooting happily as it watched the people float by, its dark black coat contrasting against its new owner's dark green gown.

"-seen you since your last paycheck. Couldn't afford any Floo powder?" Draco tormented.

"Draco," Bella scolded as she stopped beside him. Her white blonde hair matched his perfectly and he was only an inch taller than her. "Stop it." She didn't know what the conversation was about, but it didn't seem like it was going anywhere near friendly. "I'm sorry," Bella insisted to the ginger family, who looked offended and slightly peeved. "He doesn't mean it, honestly-"

"Yes, I do," Draco snapped. "Look, new books. That means they haven't even touched food for a whole month just to buy them. Though this one looks like she's certainly snuck a few bites-"

Bella's eyes widened in disgust. "Apologize!"

Draco shot his sister a glare. "Don't tell me what to do, Bella."

She shot him a scowl, before giving the ginger family a pleasant smile. "I'm really, really sorry about him. He doesn't have a filter-"

"Bella, let's go. Let's not waste our time on this filth-"

Bella winced, but the mother, it looked, of the group, stepped forward and gave Bella a pleasant smile. "I don't believe we've met. Molly Weasley."

Bella took the offered hand, shaking it firmly. "Belladona Malfoy. It's lovely to meet you." She hadn't heard much about the Weasleys, just they were poor and fought for the Order in the war.

"I didn't know the Malfoy's had a daughter."

"I've been away," Bella recited the cover story. "Just now back for my first year." She withdrew her hand and gave the rest of them a pleasant smile. "I really am sorry. He is completely out of line-"

"This is Ronald, he's starting this year as well," Molly introduced the little boy Bella's own age. He had freckles dotting his nose and a mop of red hair atop his head. "It is great to know some people in his year!"

"Likewise," Bella returned.

"Bella," Draco snapped. "Come on."

She was about to excuse herself when a hand descended on her shoulder. By the way Molly stumbled back, Bella knew who it was.

"Father, I was just apologizing for Draco's rudeness," Bella explained.

"Yes, well, come along."

As the Malfoy trio walked away, Bella glanced back to see the ginger family moving quickly in the opposite direction. "They're nice people-"

"They're blood-traitors," Draco snapped. "Don't talk to them, Bella."

"You were being rude," Bella insisted quietly from her father's other side. "You kept talking about their money and their appearance-"

"Yes, well, someone needed to tell them."

Furious, Bella glanced at the boy slightly older than her. "It gives you no right to be rude."

"You shouldn't have apologized-"

"Enough," Lucius said shortly. "Both of you are going home."

"But I need a familiar," Draco protested. "Bella's already got one!"

"You can get it later in the week," Lucius replied. "We're done here. Too many people are watching now, Draco. Listen to your sister for once."

The boy sneered at his sister before taking his father arm as the man apparated.

***

"Dobby!" Bella hissed as she paced in her room. The place was far from the Slytherin room her brother adorned. Gryffindor placcards were on the walls and her bed was golden, almost. A few pillows were red as a ruby.. Or blood. There was a pop and the trembling elf appeared.

"Dobby is here, Miss Malfoy!"

"Go to Harry Potter," Bella instructed. "You must make him not return to Hogwarts. Do everything you can to persuade him."

Dobby's eyes widened, "But Harry Potter must return-"

"Bad things are going to happen," Bella cut off the small elf that no longer belonged to her home. "Please, you have to tell him not to return. If he gets hurt because of him-"

"Who wishes to hurt Harry Potter?" Dobby said with fearful eyes.

"The heir of Slytherin is going to open the Chamber of Secrets," Bella replied. "I don't know what that means, but father says it happens every fifty years, and that's this year. Please, you must warn him. Do everything you can to make him not get on that train-"

"Dobby will do as Miss Malfoy asks," the elf agreed, bowing. "Miss Malfoy is Harry Potter's friend and my friend."

"Thank you," she breathed in relief.

****

The book slipped from her hands as she stared at her friend in shock. "You're kidding me," she said simply, running a hand through her silky blonde hair. "You were attacked by a dog?"

"Yes, but not really," Harry insisted. "And I blew up my Aunt."

Bella laughed, unable to control it. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Excuse me," a new voice said, pleasant, masculine, and alluring. Bella turned to look next to her and saw a handsome blonde man giving her a nervous look. "You wouldn't be able to tell me where Care for Magical Creatures is, would you?"

Bella nodded, smiling brightly. "Yeah. I have to go to the pitch anyway, so I can walk you there. Hey, Harry, why don't you get on that Potions essay that was due over break?" Bella asked, standing and throwing her bag over her shoulder. "I'll see you later. Come on..."

"Keith," the man supplied, no doubt her age. He had a strange accent, but she couldn't quite place it. He ran a hand through his golden blonde hair, giving a smile. "I'm a transfer. I used to go to the Swedish Academy of Sorcery."

"Well, glad you're here," Bella admitted. "Can I see your schedule?" He passed it to her and she grinned. "You're in just about every class, except I dropped Care of Magical Creatures. You'll love Hagrid though. He's a little insane, but he's great-"

"You're in what year?" he asked suddenly.

"Third," Bella replied, glancing at him. "You?"

"Same. Your hair... I've never seen anything like it."

"It runs in the family," the blonde girl explained. "I'm Bella, by the way. Belladona."

"Nice to meet you."

"Sit with my friends and I at lunch," Bella requested as she left him at Hagrid's hut. His robes showed he was in Gryffindor, with her, and she gave him a hopeful smile. "We'd love to get to know you."

"Of course."

***

"What's he doing?" Keith demanded.

"He's changing," Bella explained quickly, stumbling back as the professor snapped in her direction. The wolf was feral, no potion running through its veins to make it human. "Remus, we're friends," Bella tried to reason. "Friends-" It growled and Keith pulled her arm back, ready to step in front of his girlfriend. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Moony. That's your name. Moony-"

"Bella," Keith breathed. "I don't think this is working."

"Shh," Bella snapped. But it wasn't working. Moony was getting closer, as she refused to think of him as Remus Lupin, and then a dog tackled the wolf. Bella's heart was in her throat as she watched her professor and her best friend's godfather fighting under the light of the full moon.

***

The blonde was dressed in a stunning purple gown, her silver blonde hair curled down her back. Her eyes were dusted with silver, matching the gray, and dark purple flecks of fairy dust was on her cheeks. She met eyes with the blonde boy shyly, wondering if he was going to walk to her, or she to him.

He made the decision for her, walking up to her and taking a small step before he bowed lowly.

"Keith," Bella giggled, taking his offered hand. "Stop being a dork."

"You love it."

"I do," Bella admitted. He tucked her hand into his arm and led her to the sparkling Great Hall.

"You look gorgeous."

Bella grinned, glancing at the boy. "Really? Thank you."

"Like a princess."

"Are you my prince?"

"I suppose I am," he winked.

Bella blushed, glancing at their clasped hands as they danced for hours. The crowd had disappeared so it was just to two blondes. Her arms slowly wrapped around his neck, keeping her warm in the dwindling hall that was growing colder and colder as the dancers left. Her forehead rested on his collarbone, just barely showing through his unbuttoned shirt. He had pulled off his tie once the rock and roll had started to breathe. Her lips brushed against it and she murmured to him.

"Does the night have to end?"

"It's more of a morning now," he admitted. His own chin rested on the top of her head and he stared at her a moment, seeming to gauge the situation, before he stated. "Bella?"

"Hmm?" Bella hummed, pulling back to look at him.

His blue eyes swam with emotion as he said, "I... I really like your dress."

She smiled, knowing far well that that wasn't what he wanted to say. "I know..." She laid her head on his collarbone once more, staring at nothing for a moment. "I really like your suit..." She supposed teasing him would bring them to a full circle, after all.

"Screw it," he muttered under his breath. "I love you, Bella."

She rolled her eyes, pulling back to meet his once more. "Love you, Keith. I really do."

"You do?" he asked, surprised.

She stared at him, "Yeah. You thought I didn't?"

"I thought you were arranged to marry someone, so I wasn't going to say it," he admitted.

Bella rolled her eyes, "My father ripped up the contract when he heard Zabini was sleeping around with Moon. Not my particular cup of tea." She pulled her hands back so they rested on his neck. "Besides, I wouldn't touch Zabini even if I was forced. I'd much rather be in your arms."

"Let's get out of here."

Bella nodded, biting her lip as he took her hand and swept her from the room.

****

Her breath left her in pants as she ran through the forest, looking desperately for anything, any sign, to let her know she was past the wards. Maybe... maybe she could violate the law in order to get to safety. She doubted it.

She saw the tree, looking safe and comforting. Even though the weather was unbearably cold, she began to climb.

***

"How was your summer?" Hermione asked Bella suddenly.

Bella looked up from her seat across from the brainiac, her eyes a little shocked and afraid. "Fine... Fine, it was fine. How was yours?"

"Great," Hermione smiled. "You look... unwell."

"Family stuff," Bella swallowed. "Nothing to worry about."

"You and ferret fight again?"

"Draco," she emphasized her brother's name, "and I are fine. My father and I, actually."

"He's a git," Ron stated.

"Yeah, well, he doesn't mind me being friends with you lot, does he?" she shot back. "He lets me visit the Burrow, lets me be on the Quidditch team. I'm allowed the same freedoms as Draco."

"You're right, Ron's just being a prat," Harry insisted. "Your dad does seem pretty relaxed with you being in Gryffindor."

"As long as I'm not a Hufflepuff," she reminded them, "I'm free to do as I please. And I can't marry a Muggleborn. But, well, no Muggleborn in their right mind would go after a Malfoy in the first place. They'd be scared off before I could even say hi."

"That's not true," Hermione insisted. "You don't scare away Dean-"

"Dean and I haven't talked since our break up in second year," Bella reminded them, "Besides the occasional potions partner. Just leave it, please. I'm fine, again."

****

She was anything but fine. The stinging in her hand hurt as she wrote once more: I must not spread rumors. Tears prickled in her vision as she felt the Defense toad circle down like a hawk.

"Do you understand what you did wrong, Miss Belladona?"

"Yes," Bella spat the teacher, rising. She threw the quill down. "I also know you'll be facing an inquiry at work when my father hears about this." She grabbed her bag as the woman gave a startled gasp in surprise. "Belladona Malfoy, Professor. Perhaps you should look at the register."

The woman sputtered as the dark haired girl spun from the room, her hair turning a white blonde as she opened the pink door, giving the Professor an icy glare, and then slamming it shut behind her.

"Bella?"

The blonde spun around, her wand at the person's throat. Draco. "What?" the girl demanded, her wand digging deeper into the boy's throat.

"You got detention with her?"

Bella glanced at the door, before lowering her wand. "Of course I did. Spreading rumors, Belladona? My, a Mudblood like you ought to no do that. Associating with filthy-half breeds? My, a Mudblood like you would be murdered for that." Bella held up her bleeding hand, a spiteful glare on her face as he saw the damage. "I must not spread such rumors about her fifty cats. I fear, next time, she might take it personally."

"She did this to you?"

"No, Draco, Dumbledore did," Bella spat. "Of course she did."

"Wait til father hears about this."

"Believe me," Bella promised. "He will."

"She'll be sacked by day's end."

"We can pray," Bella muttered, pulling away from him. "I have places to be."

"And I have girls to meet," Draco winked.

"You're disgusting," Bella stated. "When you get Dragon Pox, we'll see who's laughing."

"Dragon pox doesn't exist."

"Yet."

She returned to Gryffindor Common Room and was met with a half asleep Keith lounging in front of the fire. When he saw her, he sprang up. "How was it?"

"Not that bad," Bella lied. "I'm going to head to bed-"

"You look pale-"

"Please," Bella insisted, kissing his cheek. "I'll see you in the morning."

She hid her hand from his view and when she reached her sleeping dorm, wrapped it in an essence of murlap bandage and laid down on her bed, vowing to write a letter to her father in the morning.

***

"I want this one," Bella insisted to her father, glancing towards him. The blonde man raised an eyebrow.

"A snake?"

Bella nodded, glancing back at the black python. "He's gorgeous."

Lucius Malfoy blinked at his daughter, before sighing, "The Dark Lord will not tolerate another snake in our manor."

"The Dark Lord cannot tell me I cannot have a snake," Bella replied sharply. "He is your Lord, but I am not his follower. There's nothing wrong with another snake. It is not as though it will be kept all over the manor, father. I'll keep it in my room. I'll feed it myself, I promise. I take care of Libra!" She bit her lip, staring up at her father. "Besides, that Ministry official at Hogwarts is completely rude to me. She gave me detention for-"

"Detention?" he asked sharply.

Bella gave him a nod, holding up her long scarred hand. "Blood quills, too. Everyone's been using them in her detentions."

He snatched his daughter's hand with his leather gloves, staring at the scars with a scowl. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I sent a letter," Bella said quietly. "I never got a reply."

"I never got a letter."

"I sent one," Bella promised. "I told Draco and he knew I was going to send one-"

"Get the snake. We're leaving. I need to go to the Ministry."

Bella felt a frown tug her lips, "What?"

"We're leaving. Hurry up and buy the bloody snake." His language... He was angry. Bella quickly obliged, feeling her heart lifting. As the black snake wrapped around her shoulders and she threw the galleons on the shop desk, the owner muttering a shocked thank you, Lucius steered her out into the alley way. Knockturn Alley was never safe. If he hadn't had a business trip, that she offered to join him with, she wouldn't have come here.

"Why are we leaving so quickly?"

"I need to have a discussion with the Minister about what's going on in Hogwarts to my child."

Bella scowled in disgust, "You should see how she is. So prejudice. And the fear on her face when I told her my last name. Ugh, I want to strangle her until the last breath leaves her. Can you believe she didn't recognize me? Granted, I change my appearance in that class because I lost a bet with Harry and he dared me to keep my appearance for a class period-"

"Where are you going with this?" Lucius interrupted with a bite as Bella walked along side him down the road. He wasn't particularly annoyed, but not amused, either. She supposed it didn't work.

"She didn't know I was a Malfoy. When Harry started to spout on about how the Dark Lord was back and how we needed to learn how to use our wands, and not just read Beginning Defense books, she gave him detention for telling lies. Nasty scar like mine," Bella continued with her story. "Well, I was in the hall a few weeks later, telling my friends how there were a few first years that had to use the blood quills and they didn't go to Pomfrey because they think she's going to report it to Dumbledore-"

"As she should," Lucius spat.

"She caught me and told me I was spreading nasty rumors. And, well, I was talking about those creepy cat plates she has everywhere. She didn't like that very much. Accused me of associating with half-breeds like Lupin, because he's a good friend of mine. And then, of course, that wasn't what she wanted to hear when I defended him. Told her that he was a better professor than she would be in her sleep. Thankfully, I wasn't put in detention for that-"

"You're rambling," Lucius stated.

"So, that's how I got in detention. Spreading rumors isn't a good thing to do, Mudblood Belladona. Filthy-"

Lucius whirled on her, fury in his eyes. "Mudblood Belladona?"

Bella backtracked, "I-"

"She called you a filthy Mudblood?"

The fury in his eyes was nothing like she had seen before. "I-No. I mean, yes, but that's besides the point-"

"We're going home," he said shortly. He took her arm and apparated her to her room, before leaving in such a flourish of disgrace she had never before seen it in him. He simply never was less than perfect.

****

"No!" Bella screamed as the spell knocked Keith backwards. Her eyes found Dolohov's, staring at her in a form of sick pleasure and bloodlust. Murder was dancing in his eyes as he kept his wand locked on Keith. The scream that bubbled form his throat made Bella's stomach hurt and she felt sick. "Stop it!" she cried. "Stupify!"

He deflected it, effectively ending the cruciatus on her boyfriend, and then rebounded.

She barely was able to sidestep it before sending back her own curse. "Leave him alone," she spat.

"Did I hurt your little boyfriend?" Bella dared a glance in Keith's direction and saw a wound on his forehead, blood pouring from it at an unhealthy rate. He was struggling to get up, but he kept falling onto his hands the further he made it. She moved towards him, but Dolohov tutted. "No, my dear. Let's go this way, shall we? Imperio!"

Let's climb the arch... that's it, walk towards the arch. Nothing's wrong with the arch, is it? No, its perfectly safe. Start to climb it, there you go.

She fought against it as hard as she could. She couldn't climb it and her hands were going bloody as she did her best to do exactly as the voice in her head said. She couldn't fight it. She was weak.

"Expelliarmus!" The curse was lifted as Dolohov had to deflect Keith's curse.

"Avada Kedavra!" Dolohov spat. The spell hit Keith directly as Bella spun around and a shuddering breath left her. The blonde man, not even on his own feet, slumped over and gave one last breath.

"You bastard!" Bella screamed. She shot as many spells as she could at him, tears blinding her as she struggled to keep them back. A voice spoke to her, telling her how Malfoys didn't cry. At that point in time, she didn't feel like a Malfoy. She felt like a widow.

"Crucio!" She screamed under the pain she couldn't feel. She was numbing. It slowly ebbed from her heart and spread through her limbs. When the spell was lifted, she sat there, on the dirty stone floor, staring at her dead boyfriend. It was the first death she had seen. "Lost your fight, have you?"

Bella's body didn't respond. She was under the cruciatus again, this time for being a filthy traitor. She didn't care anymore. She was released, this time breathing ragidly, but no tears escaped.

She didn't exist to herself any longer.

***

"You promised," Bella whispered brokenly from her nook in the library. She hadn't moved from it for three days. Her father was standing before her, her mother just a few feet behind him. His black cane was curled in his hand, resting on the floor. He wasn't leaning on it. It seemed only for show, but she knew better. "You promised me..."

"You're wasting away," Lucius stated.

Bella's hand curled along the curves of Salazar's body. Her eyes stared at nothing, but everything at the same time. The grounds were massive, she had never noticed before. The sun was bright and shining into the library, showing her the books she had selected weeks ago, the elves had stacked for her upon her return from Hogwarts, but things had changed. He had died. Him and Sirius.

Libra sat obediently at her Mistress's feet, whimpering as Bella shrugged numbly. "You promised me he'd be protected... You murdered him."

"I didn't kill him. Believe me, Dolohov was punished for what he did-"

"He was innocent," Bella muttered to herself, her fingers once more running along Salazar's scales. He curled up tighter on the windowsill, enjoying the sun. She didn't enjoy anything anymore, she supposed it was good he was enjoying it for her. "He's dead."

"He is."

Her eyes snapped to her mother's own, who had spoken. She was slowly turning gray haired, and was getting more obvious since the Dark Lord had returned. Soon, she'd be nothing more than her grandmother had been, before her passing. Weary. "He didn't deserve it. I trusted you to keep him safe," Bella insisted, her eyes turning back to her father. "You promised me he'd be safe. That you'd protect him."

"I'm sorry your boyfriend-"

"You're not sorry!" Bella cried, the first bit of emotion she had shown since the funeral, three days before. "You're anything but sorry! You sent Dolohov on him like a dog-"

"I couldn't protect your boyfriend. Perhaps there is nothing left for you here," Lucius said coldly.

"There isn't," Bella returned back to her quiet state. "I need to leave."

"You can't-"

The library door burst open and there was an Auror present. Bella's eyes widened in surprise as he rushed forward, more filing in behind her. Mad-Eye Moody? No... her cousin. Nymphadora Tonks.

"What is the meaning of this?" Lucius demanded.

"You're under arrest for the breaking into of the Ministry," Tonks stated, seizing Lucius's shoulder. She cuffed him with magical cuffs and then glanced at Bella. "I'll be taking you to the Burrow, to await his trial-"

"You can't-" Narcissa started.

"I won't be here for the trail," Bella interrupted her mother. "I'm leaving town. Tell Harry and Ron and Hermione and them that I send my best."

Tonks frowned, "Are you sure?"

Bella nodded, glancing at her father as he was being dragged away. "There's nothing left for me here."

***

She seized the portkey, not expecting it to react so suddenly, and was tugged by her naval down and down until she landed unceremoniously on the hard marble floor. A Ministry. But she didn't recognize where, until she heard the accent.

America.

"Can I help you?"

She pulled herself up, seeing a rather old woman with very thick glasses peer down at her.

"I'd like to disappear," Bella stated. "What can you give me?"

"Name?"

"Belladona Malfoy," the now brunette stated, her shoulders high as she gazed at the woman across from her. The woman's eyes widened as she recognized the name. The Malfoys were well known everywhere. "Please. I need to disappear."

"We've just received an inquiry about vampires in a small town on the west coast," the woman stated. "If you'd be able to go there and keep an eye on these vampires, while making yourself scare, I believe we can work something out."

"The address?"

"Forks, Washington."

***

Blonde and White. The clashing on the Astronomy Tower. Draco was marked. The man they called a Headmaster tumbled as Draco's Godfather murdered him in cold blood. Dumbledore went falling, falling beyond their sight. Falling with the chances of the light side in the war.

***

"What else did you take from my vault?" the crazed woman screamed at Hermione. Hermione was sobbing, in obvious pain. Her eyes were full of haunting as though she'd never make it out alive.

"We didn't take anything!" her voice cracked, broken. She was broken now. Bellatrix could have anything she wanted. She wanted the answer to her question.

"What else did you take!?" The newly created wounds on Hermione's exposed arm was stomach coiling. Hermione sobbed as the knife dug into her throat. "What else did you take?!"

***

The remains of Voldemort wafted up into the air as he was destroyed, once and for all. Harry was told of Teddy being his godson, now, but Andromeda would care for him until Harry got his feet on the ground. Funeral arrangements for Fred were being made. Ashes in the shop, they decided. What better way to honor him, then for him to be surrounded by those that appreciate all the work he did? Children.

The dead bodies of school mates, friends, enemies, such as Lavender Brown, Collin Creevey, and others haunted the hallways. Not as ghosts, but as memories. Memories of the times before hell froze the Earth over.

***

Bella was spit out of the pensieve and felt numb. "They all died? Remus? Tonks?"

"And Teddy is in my care," Harry said quietly, the tension in the room as thick as a mahogany door. "He's a metamorphagus as well."

"Like his mum," Bella murmured. She felt tears in her eyes, but quickly swallowed them away. "Draco walked across that courtyard? Pronounced his support for the Dark Side in front of everyone?"

"He didn't want to go there," Hermione admitted. "He was quite hesitant. Your mother broke him though. As soon as Harry rolled out of Hagrid's arms, they left."

"They did," she agreed. She let out a breath of disbelief. "Teddy will never know his parents... He wasn't even... He wasn't even a toddler."

"They died for their cause," Ron insisted.

"Doesn't make it right," Bella snapped. Her eyes flashed gray as her hair turned blood. "Bloody hell... How bad is everything? The Ministry's probably in upheaval."

"Wait... Your father's a murderer?"

Bella's eyes snapped towards Carlisle, who was in disbelief. He hadn't spoken, though. It was the bronze haired man sitting inches from him. Edward. "My father's made many bad choices in his life."

"That spell... Crucio," Jasper said slowly. Bella flinched marginally. "It does what exactly?"

"It's an Unforgiveable," Hermione replied. "A terrible curse that makes you feel the worst pain in the world. It's widely used by the Dark Side for its quickness."

"It's Jane," Bella replied. "Jane in a curse... Jane if she wasn't held back. If she could stab you with a thousand knives and make your limbs distort from long usage because your muscles give up."

Jasper flinched at the prospect, but seemed intrigued. "And your mother..."

"Quite a character," Bella replied. "Does her whole trophey wife thing well. Perhaps it was cowardly to leave, and not fight in the war, but … After he died... After Keith died." She struggled on saying his name, but managed. "When he died," she continued, "I wanted to as well. It was my fault. I could have killed Dolohov, fought the Imperius curse. I couldn't. I wasn't strong enough. Why I was sorted into Gryffindor, I don't know."

"What about your memories here?" Harry asked, suddenly.

"Only right, seeing as you saw ours after you left."

Bella obliged, sending them through the most eventful days she had in Forks. When it was all over, Harry gave Bella a hard glare. "Looks like you fought a few wars of your own."

Bella shrugged lightly, "Victoria was a pain the bum. And James? Merlin, he was asking for it. I would have had him, too, had he not bit me-"

"I can't believe you were that careless," Hermione insisted. "Running to a vampire?"

"I was still under the impression I wanted to die," Bella said simply. "Running to a vampire to save a woman that thought she was my mother was practically set it stone at that point."

Ginny cleared her throat unhappily. "So, when is the wedding?"

The room froze, at least for Bella. Edward, however, answered gracefully. "August."

Eyes turned to Bella, but she was staring at the pensieve, wishing it could take her anywhere but this room. She didn't want to have to tell them she had to leave. She didn't want to break that news, very publically, that she would be returning to the world she belonged. It wasn't where they belonged.

"Bella?" Edward pressed. "Love, are you okay? Jasper's getting weird signals-"

Bella carefully slid the ring off of her finger. "We don't belong in the same worlds. I never thought I'd return... Never wanted to, especially with the Dark Lord. He survived seventy years before he died the first time. I fully expected another seventy to pass the second time..." She placed the obnoxious diamond on the table, besides the pensieve. "We never would have worked. Perhaps you realized that, long ago, when you first left."

"Bella, we can talk about this-"

"My world is the Wizarding World. Going to back to school, getting good grades, becoming a Healer or a teacher or … or an Auror," Bella told them. "It's not changing and being a vampire for eternity." Her eyes met his in a teary battle. "It's not at your side. I'm sorry... but I'm not. I never meant for it to be this far-"

"They can come with us," Hermione interrupted. "We have a portkey-"

Bella shook her head. "They stay here."

"I think we can judge where we move to," Alice insisted. "Besides, what's wrong with London? It's cloudy, beautiful-"

"I, no doubt, have debts to settle and enemies to pay off," Bella insisted. "A cousin to meet, a grave to visit..." Her lips turned into a frown. "I'm not who you know. I'm a girl that grew up believe the world would hate me, knowing the world would love my name and my money, and became the girl my parents loathed. A girl that was best friends with everything they taught her against – Mudbloods and Harry Potter and the poor Weasley's and a Gryffindor. I'm not who you think I am. I'm a witch, I'm a Quidittch star, behind Harry and Oliver. I'm... I'm not Bella Swan. I'm Belladona Malfoy, and I'm afraid that's how it's going to be."

"I can learn to love this Bella, just as I loved the other-"

"My blood only sings to you because it is magic," Bella explained. "You can smell their blood. It's alluring, just as mine. You find it difficult, but you can live with it. You're used to smelling the magic. All those singers you met, no doubt, were magic folk."

"Our portkey leaves in five minutes," Ginny said suddenly.

"I need to erase Charlie and Renee's memories," Bella admitted, standing. "I'll be back in two minutes."

"As you wish."

I apparated on the spot, landing in Charlie's living room. He seemed surprised to see me, even slightly fearful. "Obliviate," she murmured strongly. The man's face slowly relaxed and he collapsed on the couch, the memories she had planted on the single man leaving her. Soon, the entire town would forget her. It was only what happened.

She quickly packed her things into the disillusioned trunk under her bed, being as quiet as she could manage, and waved her wand around the room. It dispersed back to the boring guest room it was before she arrived. She would almost miss it to her old home.

When she apparated back to the Cullen home, her eyes darted between the vampires. She dropped her trunk besides a standing Harry, who took it. "Bella, I love you."

Her eyes met Edward's pained gold ones. "I love you," Bella replied. "Not as much as I loved Keith or my family or even my enemies. You... You provided me with an easy distraction. It was just as you left me, for a distraction. I needed something. You gave it to me."

He was about to reply, but Bella put her hand out and seized the portkey, a small piece of frayed fabric that resembled a shirt she once had. The object was waited expectantly, and the others grabbed on.

"Wait!" Edward cried, grabbing Bella's hand as they began to swirl away.

"Let go!" Bella shouted, but it was too late. There was no more Forks beneath them. They were traveling internationally, to London. To Grimmauld Place.


	3. Chapter 3

"I told you to let go!" Bella shouted as they landed, not caring if the Muggles could hear them.

"What happened?" he gasped, glancing around them. "We're in London!"

"Of course we are!" Bella spat. Her eyes flashed a furious silver as she kept her appearance the one she had before. Her accent was back, the regal accent that she had always known. She shoved the portkey into his hands, and he glanced at it confused. Just as he was about to say something, he was whisked away. Portkeys and their immediate returns to their original activation point. Bella could have kissed the inventors of them.

Harry walked up to the door, unlocking the wards to allow them access, and they began to file through. It was unsettling, to her, how quiet the place was. It always was, when she was here before, but this was different. There was no life beyond them. Walburga's portrait wasn't the threat – it was the grief in the air. Bella could almost taste it. Staleness and salt from tears.

As the door to the dining room pushed open, she saw her family. Not her real family, of course, but the others she called a family. Andromeda wasn't there, she took notice to, but the rest of the Weasley's were. The broken family that was once filled with so much hope.

Bella's arrival caused Molly to glance up from serving her boys, and she let out a small smile, as though that was all she could manage. Her hair was frazzled, bags under her eyes telling everyone she hadn't much sleep. The whites of her eyes were bloodshot, from hours upon hours of crying. It made Bella's stomach hurt, to see so much pain in the woman that was always so optimistic. The war had ruined her, as well. Bella supposed it was a good thing she wasn't the only one that had been ruined by a force that took what she loved the most. Almost immediately, she felt selfish for the thought. Selfish for being glad someone could share her pain.

It was something the Dark Lord would think.

"Bella," she whispered, hugging the blonde girl tightly. "It's so great to see you! Arthur's at work, so he won't be able to come home for a few more hours. I'm sorry he missed you-"

"It's alright," Bella insisted. "I understand. It's lovely seeing you."

The red-haired woman quickly set some extra place settings for the new arrival and Bella sat down besides Ron and Harry. She loved her boys, and had missed them greatly.

"How were the states?" Percy asked suddenly, his eyes still dull behind his glasses. It reminded Bella of her childhood, visiting him while he would be reading. He wasn't her favorite brother, not by a landslide, but he was intelligent, though arrogant. She supposed he was a good company to keep if you wished to be put to sleep.

"How did you-?" Bella began to ask before she nodded. "Ministry." Percy confirmed with a single nod of the head, and Bella shrugged. "Disappointing. I was asked to keep an eye on some vampires, and I did so..." Her eyes darted around the table, seeing them all watching her. "Fell in love, got my heart broken, he came back, and then I left him."

"Engaged to him," Ginny corrected. "Why she fell in love with a vampire-"

"Half-breeds are my thing," Bella shrugged to herself, her eyes darting to the plate in front of her. Seeing them brought back many memories she wished would die. Keith being within the very halls she sat, her smiling and being happy. It was unsettling. It made her heart hurt as well.

"And you left him?"

"We were too different. I'm not... I'm not ready for a relationship, yet. It's too much work and too many memories to keep me sane."

Molly sniffled and excused herself quickly. Bella frowned as she saw the motherly woman disappear into the kitchen, her sobs barely able to be held back as the door shut behind her.

"Did I say something?" Bella asked, confused.

"She's very emotional," Ginny offered. "Fred..." George left just then, unable to take it. He slammed the dining room door behind him, making Ginny fall silent.

"I'll talk to Molly," Bella offered, standing. She slowly made her way to the kitchen, spotting Bill leaving to talk to George. When she entered the kitchen and saw Molly sobbing over the stove, she wondered if she made the wrong choice. To go after her, a woman she hadn't spoken to in years, compared to the man she had hardly ever known, seemed like a bad decision.

The woman glanced at her, rubbing her eyes and putting on a strong front.

"You don't have to hide it," Bella said, propping herself up on the counter. "I never did."

"Does it get better?" The woman's voice cracked and Bella frowned to herself as she struggled with the answer. Did it?

"No," Bella said honestly. "Everyone tells you it does. They tell you that you'll forget, that you'll move on. You don't." The woman whimpered slightly. "When you lost your brothers, Gideon and Fabian, you felt the same as you do now. It doesn't get better, when you think about it. You still feel the same loss and pain as you did when it happened." Bella glanced at her hands in her lap, struggling to continue. She didn't cry. "It only gets easier because you start to numb. I refused to eat for days when I lost Keith... Refused to sleep. I stared out a window, hoping it was me. It should have been me." Bella gave the woman a smile. "Fred's death is not your fault... It's a Death Eater who deserves nothing more than your hate. You don't have to forget him. You just have to take small steps to get past the pain, and more towards remembering."

"You still miss him... after all this time?"

Bella gave the woman a small, sad smile. "Always. He'll never be forgotten, but that doesn't mean I stop living. The same with your son. It'll hurt for months, maybe years. You'll wish you were dead. But you can't stop living. You have other children that need you."

"I do," she agreed quietly. There was silence as she wiped her tears away. Finally, when she spoke, it was a different topic. "You haven't med your godson, have you?"

"My godson?" Bella asked, confused. "I don't have one."

"Teddy," Molly insisted. "Tonks named you godmother in her will."

Bella's stomach clenched, "I don't know a thing about caring for a child..."

"You're not supposed to. It's all instinct," she insisted. "Would you like to meet him?"

"He's here?"

"Andromeda needed some time for things," Molly said quietly. "I can take you to him."

"I'd like that," Bella admitted.

The woman nodded, taking the blonde's hand, and dragging her through the dining room, up the stairs, and to the first guest room on the left. Bella's old bedroom. Gone was the bed, and now a small crib sat in its place. Yellow and blue blankets were scattered everywhere, toys, anything a baby would need. Molly hung by the edge of the doorway and gestured for Bella to go forward.

The hesitant steps were met with a reassuring smile. Bella eventually reached the edge of the crib and peered inside. The baby was staring up at Bella, his hazel eyes wide and trusting. Upon seeing Bella, his appearance changed to white blonde and silver eyes. Bella giggled, hesitantly picking the baby up. She had never touched a baby before.

Teddy Lupin was fragile, but heavy in her arms. He didn't cry, like she expected. She wasn't a good person, wasn't from a good background. Perhaps he'd sense that. He didn't. His eyes stared at her and he seized a piece of her hair, giving it a sharp tug.

"Ow," Bella muttered, carefully unwinding his fingers from her hair. The baby giggled, finding this exciting beyond belief. But tears gathered in her eyes, not from the pain, but from the way the little boy looked. So much like his mother that it reminded her of her own parents, especially with the blonde hair. His face, though, was so much like Remus that she found the crashing reality that he was gone, hard to bear.

"Bella?"

"Malfoys don't cry," she repeated to Molly carefully, swallowing thickly. The little boy stared up at Bella in wonder, but didn't coo or make a single noise. He reached for her hair, again, but that was all.

Bella kissed the boy's cheek and he gave a shriek that quickly dissolved into something she hoped was a laugh. The poor boy was too precious to her. Too much something she couldn't raise. "You'd me a fantastic mother," Molly stated one moment later.

"How old is he?" Bella asked.

"Two months," Molly admitted. "We were just starting to switch him over to formula when Tonks died..." Bella frowned slightly. "St. Mungo's gave us some milk they store and we heat it up. It's a little difficult, but he's alright. He doesn't understand his mother won't come back. Doesn't remember his parents at all, really."

Bella gazed at the little boy. "Has my mother and Draco met him?" When she met Molly's startled eyes, she quickly backtracked. "It was just a passing though. I don't think it would be wise, with everything. My father's in Azkaban for doing horrible things, I know. My mother-"

"Your mother saved Harry," Molly insisted. "And he is her nephew."

Bella agreed, but didn't say anything related to that. It was a touchy subject she was glad to drop. "Does he change at the moon?"

"No. It is a genetic trait, we believe. So, he hasn't shown any signs of it. He cries, during the moon, but even Bill feels a bit distressed on it-"

"Bill?" Bella asked, confused. "Why would Bill feel the moon?"

"He was attacked by Greyback, last year," Molly said quietly. "Such a horrible tragedy." The woman paused and met Bella's shocked gaze. "He's not a werewolf. Just a few traits of them. Meat a little rarer than normal."

"He's very lucky," Bella stated, glancing at the boy. "So he's a partial werewolf, you're saying. The same as Teddy?"

"Yes."

"He doesn't have the same danger growing up as we did," Bella admitted after a moment. "No war, no bad people... Just peace. It's unsettling, isn't it?"

"It is," Molly agreed. "We haven't had that since Ginny was a baby. Even then, war broke out again. It wasn't always safe."

Eventually, they headed down the stairs to the living room, Molly giving the girl a small bottle of formula for the baby. Harry and Ron, and all the others were still there, so when she sat, Harry gazed at her weirdly. Bella began to feed the child, while eating some of the food on her plate for herself. The table was silent, but she didn't find there to be much conversation when she arrived either.

Awkwardly, Bella kept silent, the only noises coming from a gurgling Teddy. Bill and George never returned. Harry cleared his throat once the bottle was empty, but she only glanced at him, placing Teddy over her shoulder and gently patting the metamorphagus's back as Bella shoved potatoes in her mouth.

"What?" she asked, once she swallowed.

Harry raised an eyebrow, "I can burp him."

"Nonsense. My godson, too," Bella insisted. "Besides, I need to keep my hands busy."

"Your godson?" Ginny asked, confusing. "Since when?"

"Tonks' will, apparently," Bella shrugged.

"I thought I was Teddy's godmother," Ginny told her mother. "You said I would be-"

"I said it would be likely, considering you were dating Harry at the time. However, they chose Harry and Bella. Bella is Tonks' cousin."

Bella gave Ginny an apologetic smile, "Sorry." But she knew, deep down, Ginny hated babies anyway. That much she could tell by the glances she kept giving the child in Bella's arms. When Teddy finally burped, she stood from the table, and walked out of the room. "Scourgify," Bella muttered and the mess was gone. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make Ginny angry."

"She'll get over it," Harry insisted. "She's mad I haven't asked her out yet."

"I thought you were dating," Bella said, confused.

"Were. We broke up before our seventh year. Too much at risk, especially with Voldemort rising."

Bella flinched at his name, but glanced down at the boy in her arms. "Well... I'm still sorry, all the same."

Harry shrugged, "She's emotional, too."

Teddy giggled suddenly and yanked Bella's hair, causing the blonde girl to cry out in surprise. Then, Bella giggled, moving Teddy so he was facing her on her lap and giving him a half smile, praying he'd chill out and stop pulling her hair. It really did hurt.

"Stop it," Bella giggled, trying to sound stern but failing. Her eyes lifted to take another bite of her food, but she met Ron and Hermione's eyes. "What?"

"You and him," Hermione said slowly. "It's weird."

"Uh oh," Bella murmured to the little boy, who couldn't understand a single word. "Looks like we're going to have to be careful... Hermione's getting jealous of us. And I know you're a lot younger than me, so this relationship might not work-"

"That's disgusting," Ron muttered, but a small smile tugged his lips.

Teddy twisted so he could see the plate, and seemed to find the flowers in the centerpiece fascinating. He reached for them and Bella lifted him carefully so he could reach them. His fingers brushed against it and his eyes went wide in amazement, before he snatched one in his fingers. As Bella pulled him back into her lap, the boy shoved it into her mouth.

"No!" Bella cried, trying to stop him, but it was too late.

He mashed it into his mouth and grinned proudly with its gummy mouth. Bella grimaced, using her fingers to fish out the flower. Thankfully, it was in one piece. "We don't eat flowers," Bella scolded gently. "We look at them and smell them and touch them." Once the flower was out, Bella wiped her wet finger on her jeans, not appreciating the amusement everyone was having from the interaction. Ron was laughing, and it wasn't going to do. Bella scooped up a handful of mashed potatoes and ran them all along his face.

There was silence as Ron's wide eyes stared at the blonde girl. "You're done."

"Stop it," Harry said firmly, taking Teddy from the blonde girl. "You're teaching him bad behavior."

"He's a boy. He's born with bad behavior," Bella reasoned. She scorgified her hand, but Ron's face remained a mess. He wiped it off, giving a snort of disgust.

"I mean it. I want to duel-"

"There will be no such thing," Molly interrupted sharply. "All of you, to bed."

"Mum!" Ron protested. "She put food on me!"

"She was preventing Teddy from choking and you were laughing," Molly insisted. "You deserved it. Now, all of you... You boys too." She glanced at Charlie and Percy.

"Where is Bella staying?" Harry asked suddenly, standing and waving his wand at his plate. It went to the sink, the others following in a floating line.

There was a pause, "Oh... Teddy is in your old room," Molly admitted.

"Ginny's mad at me," Bella continued. "She doesn't want me to sleep in her room with Hermione-"

"Harry and I have an extra bed," Ron piped up. "It used to be Hermione's, until you moved her out."

Bella nodded, "That's fine with me. I can take my trunk up there-"

"I got it," Ron insisted. He beat Bella out into the hall, grabbing the trunk and shrinking it so it fit in his hands. He then grabbed Hermione's hand, pulling the girl after him. "Meet you up there, Harry."

Harry nodded, holding Teddy wearily in his arms. "I haven't really looked after him."

"Well, he's probably not tired," Bella admitted. "I just got him from his room."

"I'm not tired either," Harry stated. "I'll stay up-"

"Nonsense. I'm still on American time," Bella stated. "I'm not tired either."

"You can tell me all about your ex-boyfriend, then."

Bella grimaced, but followed him up the stairs to their room, careful of being quiet as they passed Walburga's frame. The room was large. Two king sized beds and then a small cot. Bella sat on the cot, glancing up at Harry as he stood there. "What?"

"You're not sleeping on that."

"I most certainly am, boy wizard," Bella returned. "Besides, I'm thinking about visiting my mother, maybe... Instead of staying to chat. She's got to be a mess."

The black haired boy with bright green eyes sat on the cot beside her. "Why not go in the morning?"

"I could," she admitted quietly. "They probably are asleep anyway. I'm on an eight hour difference, or more. Not quite sure... You picked me up at around three your time. And because of the clouds and such in Forks, it's always dark." There was silence a moment, until she spoke. "How long have Ron and Hermione been together?"

"Sixth year," Harry admitted. "Finally got over their differences at the battle. They fight, though."

"Of course," Bella muttered. Teddy was passed to her and she leaned against the window her cot was pressed against, feeling a small breeze reach her through the thin sealant. This house needed loads of work done. "And you and Ginny? You said you were over."

"I broke up with her before seventh year," Harry admitted. "It was too dangerous. Voldemort kept trying to find those he could use to hurt me... She would have been hurt."

"Perhaps," Bella admitted. "Are you going to ask her out again?"

"No... I don't think so. She needs to find someone else, I think."

Bella rolled her eyes, "She's been after you since she was six years old. I think she'll be righly devastated with that prospect."

"That's another problem," Harry admitted. "I don't think she likes me for me, but for Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived." Bella hugged Teddy tightly to her as he changed his appearance to look like Harry, before he turned into a mousy haired boy that looked like Remus. Then, he turned into a blonde person, startlingly like Draco. "I don't know."

"Have you asked her?"

"I can't ask her that. She'd be offended."

"I'd understand, if you asked me," Bella informed him, her hand running through Teddy's thin baby hair. So soft. "You're Harry Potter, yes. But you still have feelings. Maybe she needs to see that bit?"

"She'll be fine without me," Harry insisted. "And your boyfriend?"

"Ex," Bella reminded him. She frowned lightly. "I honestly don't know why I let it get as far as it did." The cool glass pressed against her back, giving her little comfort. "But I don't love him. I mean, I do, but not... Not like I loved Keith."

"You left because of him, didn't you?"

Bella nodded slowly, "I couldn't take it. Everywhere I looked, I thought of him. Every one looked like him. Every moment I felt the crushing weight of guilt... I wanted to die." She glanced at Harry to see his eyes wide in shock. "I did... I tried to..." She hesitated. "I shouldn't have."

"Who stopped you?"

"Dobby," Bella admitted. "He snatched the wand right out of my hand and then apologized profusely for it. Began to cry. I couldn't take seeing him so heartbroken. It made me even more heartbroken... Then I realized he cared about me. I wasn't alone-"

"We all care about you."

"It's sweet," Bella muttered. "Really, but I didn't believe it at the time. You were so angry because Sirius had died. Everyone was quiet and moody. I was just numb. I didn't feel anything."

"I blamed myself for Sirius. I should have listened to Hermione."

Bella's fingers stopped in Teddy's hair and dropped to Harry's hand, clutching it tightly. "Guess we both screwed up."

"You couldn't have done anything about Keith."

"I should have knocked Dolohov out," Bella muttered. "It would have saved Hermione from that curse as well."

They talked for hours then, moving onto lighter subjects. Ron came in, giving them a tired smile, before he collapsed in his bed. They hushed up, casting a silencing charm around them, before they began to drift asleep. Harry did, and Bella rose as he passed out against the wall, carrying Teddy quietly to his room and placing him in the crib. She kissed his forehead goodnight and then returned to Harry and Ron's room. The Boy-Who-Lived was a strange sleeper. His face was contorted into pain as he relived something tragic, and his arms were wrapped around himself, as if he was protecting himself. Bella levitated him to the large empty bed, and snatched a thick blanket for herself before she collapsed on the cot, snuggling up and keeping warm.

"Hello, Mother," Bella said quietly as the elves led her to the weary looking woman. Gone were her regal robes and her sharp nose. Now, bags, much like Molly's were under her eyes, making her look years older than she actually was. Her hands were clutched around a book as she sat in her chair by the fireplace. Her eyes watched her only daughter walk into the room, staring at the girl she felt she no longer knew. "How are you?"

The woman stood, giving Bella a well-deserved slap. The blonde teen flinched, rubbing her cheek, but didn't object. She deserved it.

"Who do you think you are, leaving in the middle of a war and then coming back when everything's over?" Narcissa Malfoy demanded. "Your father is in prison-"

"And where would I be if I had stayed?" Bella returned calmly. "The same state as Draco, no doubt. Marked, ostracized-"

"Enough," Narcissa requested. Bella obliged. The woman didn't apologize for her slap, but Bella honestly didn't expect her to. "Why are you back?"

"My friends asked me to come back," Bella replied.

"Would you have come back if I had asked?"

"I would have known what would happen to me," Bella admitted quietly. "The Dark Lord would have gotten a hold of me. It's not something any of us wanted. Leaving was a favor to all of us. You know that. Any return before he was gone would have been by force."

Narcissa didn't deny it. "Why are you here?"

"I heard about father," Bella admitted. "Last night when I arrived. I wanted to see you, see how you were... Is Draco around?"

"Sleeping, still. I don't wake him," Narcissa admitted. "You're different."

"I got engaged," Bella admitted, shrugging. "He changed me, personality wise, but I didn't like it. So I left him when I came here."

"What's his name?"

"Edward Cullen," Bella admitted. "It was more one sided. I'm not over anything that happened before I left."

"I don't expect you to be," Narcissa said carefully. She gestured for Bella to sit beside her in the other chair and looked over the girl. "Where are you staying?"

"With the Order," Bella replied. Her fingers tightened around themselves, wondering if that was a bad answer. Narcissa didn't give her any response. "My godson, Teddy, is there. I'm helping look after him with Andromeda's away-"

"Teddy, Nymphadora's son? With that werewolf?"

Bella nodded. "Yeah, they named me godmother in the will. No idea why, but... He's an awesome kid. Just like Tonks. A metamorphagus and he adores Harry and I-"

"Harry Potter?"

Bella nodded once more. "He's godfather."

Narcissa turned a little pale. "Please tell me you aren't interested in Potter."

"Of course not," Bella snorted. "He's Saint Potter no matter what house I'm in." Narcissa didn't seem convinced, but didn't press. "He cares for Teddy. A lot."

"I'd imagine... Are you returning to Hogwarts?"

"Not sure yet," Bella admitted. "I'd like to, get a degree and then get a job, but... well, they have to rebuild the school first." Narcissa nodded, seeming to remember that fact.

"What do you want to do with your life, Bella?"

"A healer," Bella admitted. "I've seen so many people hurt because of the war... So many people die..." She glanced at the book shelves around her, so many books looking as though they're missing.

"I don't mean work. I mean with yourself."

"What do you mean?" Bella asked, confused. "I want to be happy, of course."

"Now that the Dark Lord's gone, the Malfoy name is tarnished."

"Good thing I've been aligned with the light since the beginning," Bella remarked. The blonde woman frowned slightly, seeming to remember this fact. "However, since the name is tarnished, I'm going to do my best to bring it back to what it once was. We aren't bad people, we just make bad choices."

"As we made bad choices?"

"The Dark Lord lived in our house," Bella said flatly. "Of course it's a bad choice we made. Would you do the same if we could change it?"

"Of course not."

"You know why I left, then," Bella reminded the woman. "All that nonsense."

Narcissa Malfoy pursed her lips, "It would have worked out."

"He would have killed me eventually."

"Not before you could escape," Narcissa insisted.

"Before what, then? Before I was destroyed? Mentally, phsyically, emotionally? He was a horrid man... I was already in love with another."

"Yes, well, he got around that, didn't he?"

Bella felt ill. "He ordered him to be killed."

Narcissa glanced up, and the blonde teen knew her mother was lying as she spoke, "I haven't the faintest what you're talking about."

Bella stayed no longer than tea, and upon her return to Grimmauld Place, found it deserted. It was never deserted.

"Molly?" she called carefully, her wand out and tense at her side. She climbed the stairs, determined to find the woman, her family, anyone. She came across none. Even Teddy's room was empty. Did she miss something? Some memo at breakfast this morning?

"Molly?" Bella called a little louder than before. Kreature intercepted her before she reached the top floor and gave her a low bow.

"Mistress Malfoy."

"Kreature, where are the others?" Bella asked.

Kreature grumbled, but Bella couldn't hear. Upon asking him to repeat it, he said, "They have gone into hiding when this half-breed stormed in, Miss. Kreature was told to tell you when you returned."

"Where have they gone?"

"Mistress should know," Kreature grumbled. "The blood-traitor-"

"I haven't a clue," Bella said, interrupting whatever foul thing the house elf was about to say. "Did they tell you? If so, tell me."

"In the closet, in the foyer, there is a passageway to the safe house, Kreature was told," Kreature spat. "Mistress is to take that to them."

"Thank you, Kreature. You are very kind..."

The elf rolled his eyes and trudged off, a bucket being dragged behind him, scraping the black wood flooring. It wasn't a long trudge, but as it got colder, she knew magic was involved in that respect. She was heading north, far more north than a mile outside of London would take her.

She came to a wooden door, a bit off its hinges, and clutched her wand tightly. Perhaps she shouldn't have listened to Kreature. He was a bothersome old elf that hated her more than she could put a reason to. Whatever his previous mistress had done to him, there was no going back. Though, she had to admit, she felt sorry for the poor creature. He was all alone.

"Hello?" she called out, pushing the door open. She was met with a very motherly hug and couldn't breathe.

"Oh! Bella, we were wondering where you were!" the red head gushed.

"What happened?" Bella asked, pocketing her wand and glancing at the entire family gathered behind her. Harry, Ginny, and Teddy were sitting on the ground, not talking to each other. Just in an awkward zone. Hermione and Ron were playing chess in the far corner and the others were scattered about the chairs and sofas.

"Some vampire, never saw a face. The wards kept him out long enough for us to get to safety. How they knew where we were..."

"No face?" Bella groaned. "I believe my ex-boyfriend has found us."

Molly frowned, "Is he a threat? Do we need to contact Aurors?"

"Hopefully he'll leave us alone," Bella insisted. "He won't hurt anyone. I just broke up with him, is all."

"Well, we're on lock down for a few days until we're sure he won't come back," Molly insisted, steering the teen into the room. "Come, come. Let's get dinner started."

Food always made things better.


End file.
